Property rights score a victory through courts

Published
4:10 pm CDT, Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The U.S. Supreme Court has given landowners a way to fight back if they feel government bureaucratic decisions are unfair or flawed.

That is good news.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could determine that certain areas are regulated by the Clean Water Act, leaving the owners no choice but to go through lengthy and costly processes to receive permits for projects they might want to carry out on their own land.

The landowners in those cases had no right to appeal the corps’ decision, meaning they had no alternative once the area’s status was determined.

Now, that has changed.

The Supreme Court ruled last week that landowners can challenge the corps’ decisions outside of the permitting process.

The ruling was cheered by many of the people and agencies who have experience in dealing with the bureaucracy and delay that comes with the Corps of Engineers permitting process.

The decision is certainly a win for property rights. It doesn’t necessarily mean that less land will be under the protection of the federal act, but it does give landowners access to an appeals process without having to pay the exorbitant fees associated with the permits that — even if they are paid for in full — can take years to be resolved.

The idea behind the Clean Water Act — that the federal government has a responsibility to ensure that public bodies of water are protected from pollution or destruction — is a valid one. But the corps has been accused in recent years of overstepping its proper boundaries and creating needlessly costly processes for bodies of water that don’t fall strictly under the guidelines of the federal law.

There is certainly merit on both sides of the argument, but it is difficult to see what legitimate public cause is served by depriving landowners of a right to appeal bureaucratic decisions that can be so costly and disruptive.